Better Homeowners FHA or Conventional?  Buyers with a minimum down payment are generally faced with the decision of whether to get a FHA or a conventional loan.  With the new 3% down payment program on conventional loans, it may become more confusing which loan to pursue. The two loan programs have mortgage fees that can […]

So much for an early spring. Winter has returned with a vengeance. Two weeks ago there was almost no snow in town and temperatures were in the 50s. Now there is two feet of snow in my yard, and it was zero degrees this morning. Wolf Creek received 97 inches of snow in 11 days. […]

    Spring Forward on Second Sunday in March This weekend, adjust your clocks forward by one hour. Most people find it convenient to change their clocks before they go to bed on Saturday night.     Lee Riley Jann C. Pitcher Real Estate 2261 Eagle DrivePagosa Springs, CO 81147  (970) 731-4065  [email protected]  www.ISellPagosa.com This […]

We have had a very good start to the year 2015. The weather has been beautiful with bright, warm, and sunny days all through January. I’m getting Spring fever already, though I’m loving this mild winter. Unfortunately, all this sunny weather has left us with snowpack at 65% of median for this time of year. […]

Over 50% of homebuyers don’t shop to find the best interest rate for their mortgage.  While a buyer would rarely purchase the first home they look at, they will accept the rate and terms offered by only one lender. While the borrower and the property affect the rate and terms that a lender may offer, […]

With roughly 12.5% of the population over 65 years of age, it is understandable that some of them are thinking of downsizing because they may not need the amount of space they did in the past.  There is something to be said for the freedom acquired by divesting yourself of “things” that have been accumulated […]

2014 turned out to be a very good year. I just conducted my unofficial survey of our business community by walking around town, as well as stopping by the Chamber of Commerce. Almost without exception, I heard the holiday season was prosperous for one and all. These local findings closely mirror the national situation. Consumer […]

I hope you had as much fun over the Thanksgiving holiday as our family did. Laurie and I spent our turkey day in Denver with our kids and our two adorable two-year-old grandchildren, Leighton and Gannon. What a ball! Of course, I ate too much turkey. Now I’m trying to work it off just in […]

October was an awesome month. We had beautiful fall weather with a couple of good rains mixed in. The fall colors were late this year in our part of the state, but they were above average in splendor. The local economy has been strong recently. The newspaper reported that our local unemployment rate has dropped […]

It’s a beautiful autumn day in the mountains! There is frost on the pumpkins, and the temperature has fallen below freezing the past couple of nights. I’ve started covering the flowers in my yard. We were hit with a couple of major storms recently, and the river looks like it’s the spring runoff. We’ve got […]